


5 times Charles was an absolute prick without meaning to be

by brilligspoons



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Gen, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-24
Updated: 2011-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilligspoons/pseuds/brilligspoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 times Charles was an absolute prick without meaning to be (which turned into 3 times he was an absolute prick, 1 time he was a prick but it turned out alright anyway, and 1 time he wasn't a prick but it happened in an alternate universe so does that count)</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 times Charles was an absolute prick without meaning to be

  
1.  
Once, while they’re on the road in search of the mutants Charles has located using Cerebro, Charles disappears without warning. There’s a brief mental impression left in the room that settles in Erik’s mind as he shuts the door, a psychic ‘I’ll be back in a few hours’ note, and that’s all. Erik flirts with irritation for a moment, then wonders why he’s so concerned with Charles’ whereabouts. They’ve barely known each other a month - and Charles is an adult, if somewhat lacking in common sense, so there’s simply no reason for Erik to _care_ this much.

He decides that a drink is in order and makes his way to the bar they’d passed earlier in the day. Erik steps through the door, and - there. Charles’ distinct laugh. The answering chime of some green-eyes brunette.

Charles either doesn’t sense him (which is likely), or chooses to ignore his presence (less likely, based on what Erik has learned of his new associate in the time spent together, but still a possibility) - but it doesn’t matter. Erik leaves a moment later, his gaze only lingering on the pair long enough to make the decision to leave. The night air is bracing cold in this area of the country, this late at night; still, Erik wanders outside until the feeling has mostly left his extremities.

When he gets back to the hotel, Charles is still not back. Erik tries to sleep, and later tries not to react when Charles stumbles into the room smelling of stale perfume and scotch.

2.  
Raven is 15 when she’s asked out on a date for the first time. James Littlefeld is the boy’s name - one of the most popular in school. She suspects that he’s after the status that dating an Xavier will give him, but she can’t help but feel flattered by his compliments and admiration. Mrs. Xavier gives her a vague smile when Raven tells her, then offers up a bit of spending money for a new outfit.

Raven immediately races up the stairs and right into Charles’ room. “You’ll never guess what happened today,” she says.

He sighs and sets down the French text he’d been studying. “If I’m never going to guess, you should just tell me.”

“James Littlefeld asked me out!”

Charles frowns. “Littlefeld? Why on earth are you excited about _him_? He’s a little snot, and he thinks about what’s up girls’ skirts far too often for my liking.”

“He’s _wonderful_ ,” she protests, a little hurt that Charles is not as enthusiastic about her upcoming date as she is. “He’s taking me for pizza on Saturday, and then to a movie, and I can take care of myself if he tries anything, which he _won’t_. I need a new outfit, will you drive me? Tonight?”

“No, Raven, I have better things to do than cart you around town,” Charles replies. He opens up the book again and begins taking notes, signaling that their discussion is over. Raven is stung but not overly concerned - she bullies the family’s chauffeur into taking her shopping after dinner, and all she can talk about the next morning to Alice and Mary is the spoils of her trip.

At lunch time, she approaches James to iron out the exact details of their date, but as she steps closer to him, she can tell he’s uncomfortable about something.

“Sorry,” he says, “I can’t go out with you.”

Raven is devastated. “I just can’t,” is the reply she gets when she asks why, and suddenly she knows _exactly_ why.

3.  
Charles’ mental haze is born of too much sun, too much adrenaline, and the pain from having a bullet lodged in his spine.

“You did this,” he hears himself say. He doesn’t know why the words come out at all (he certainly hadn’t meant to _let_ them out), and Erik’s eyes are the ones he’s looking into as he says them.

4.  
During their time at Oxford, Raven decides that, maybe, she likes girls. A lot. She tries not to think about it for a while, tries to talk herself out of it, unsure of what Charles would say if she approached him with the idea (he has always been so prickly about their abilities). It doesn’t work, this denial - if anything, the more she tries to ignore girls, the more she notices them.

Charles encouraging her to attend lectures at Radcliffe College doesn’t help either.

“You should continue educating yourself, Raven,” he says, not even looking up from the dusty, 1,000-page tome he’s referencing for a paper. “More knowledge is always a good thing. And maybe you’ll make friends.”

(And then the next morning Charles steers her toward the women’s lecture hall and tells her he expects a list of discussion points that evening to ensure she stayed and listened to the whole thing.

Raven scowls and thinks very angry thoughts at him as he walks away.)

‘Making friends’ is one thing - being surrounded by girls who have nice hair and are pretty and...well. That’s another thing entirely, Raven thinks, and it’s not fair, and the next time she has the opportunity to _accidentally_ spill something on Charles, she’s taking it.

(But then she meets Anne, and, really, that sort of makes the awful lecture on Plato’s _Republic_ worth it in the end.)

5.  
In another universe, or an alternate timeline, or whatever you’d like to call it, Charles Xavier does not tell Erik that the men who have just fired a hundred missiles at them are “just doing their job.” He does not have to see the moment in which Erik completely and utterly shuts down on him, for good, even beyond the act of wearing Shaw’s helmet. Erik does not throw the missiles back at the ships, Charles does not have to charge him, Moira does not start shooting...

In this other universe, or timeline, or whatever - Charles keeps his eyes trained on Erik as he turns the missiles around. He can’t read Erik’s mind, of course, but it’s obvious that Erik is waiting for Charles to say _something_ , and all that comes to him is -

“Please, Erik,” Charles says. “For me. Please.”

And in this alternate universe, or timeline, or whatever - that is enough.


End file.
